


Nothing is a Chance Encounter

by TwistedAmusement13



Category: South Park
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Blood and Violence, Canonical Character Death, Corporate Espionage, Death, Denial of Feelings, M/M, Mercenaries, Murder, Not Beta Read, One-Sided Relationship, Smut, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-12
Updated: 2017-04-28
Packaged: 2018-10-18 00:55:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10605948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwistedAmusement13/pseuds/TwistedAmusement13
Summary: “Christophe, I thought that was you, how long has it been?” Kyle was charming, friendly, keeping all other emotions and thoughts from reaching his eyes or his smile as he spoke casually to the ominous threat in front of him. While he knew exactly who Christophe was, he was certain that the Frenchman had no idea what the redhead was doing here or why.UPDATE 11/15/17 - Story on hiatus until further notice. I will finish it eventually but it's going to be a while.





	1. Dying to Meet

**Author's Note:**

> Christophe's heavy French accent is implied :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any/all translations can be found at the end of the chapters

“Christophe?” The redhead called out to the tall muscled man ducking into the alleyway. He knew who it was when he spotted him on the street blocks before but decided to keep quiet, until now. Now he had no choice for it seemed like the brunette was headed to the same destination as the redhead, and that was worrisome. The exchange was supposed to be simple, but it seems in this line of work nothing ever was.

“Merde” the man swore under his breath.

 _What’s going on Mole?_ The tiny earpiece spoke through the brunette’s thoughts. Tapping and holding the tiny transmitter on his sleeve he spoke back quietly so the approaching redhead would not hear him. “Je ne sais pas encore, j'ai de la compagnie.”

 _Lose him or kill him, we have a job to finish._ The reply was quick and cold. “Non,” the Frenchman replied back as the redhead came up to him.

The redhead was regarding the man – Christophe – carefully, outwardly portraying a calm and welcoming state, for the two were acquaintances, maybe even friends, once, but inwardly he knew that nothing about this seemingly chance meeting was anything close to random. Kyle had been sent here, to this exact location, to retrieve something from a man he had been in contact with for the better part of a month, and while others may not know the significance of meeting Christophe in a dark alleyway, Kyle sure did. The man he was meant to meet would most certainly be meeting his end by the brunette he was currently smiling at.

“Christophe, I thought that was you, how long has it been?” Kyle was charming, friendly, keeping all other emotions and thoughts from reaching his eyes or his smile as he spoke casually to the ominous threat in front of him. While he knew exactly who Christophe was, he was certain that the Frenchman had no idea what the redhead was doing here or why.

Above them the blond was watching the scene unfold. He also had spotted Christophe around the same time as his redheaded partner had blocks away, he stalked them along the rooftops to make sure to keep Kyle in his sights and ensure things went off without a hitch. This was their way, the partnership they had formed when small town vigilantism wasn’t doing it for them anymore. The blond ditching his hero costume for something more subdued, clad in black attire he could remain hidden easier. They moved on to bigger and more meaningful targets to help take down corruption. Lately it had been corporate espionage overseas, Kyle making anonymous contact with the mid-level management man he was supposed to be meeting tonight. The blond hated when Kyle needed to be the one doing ground work like this but the man was flighty, refusing to meet with anyone other than the hacker he was conversing with for the past month, the blond might have been able to fake his way through the meeting but Kyle had insisted it was going to be easier this way, the man was too paranoid, and with the introduction of Christophe on the scene, the blond at least knew there was genuine cause for the panic.

Buildings away in a taller skyscraper another blond watched his partner through a sniper scope, speaking to him through the small earpiece and transmitter set each wore on missions like this. He was supposed to provide the logistical information and Christophe was supposed to handle the situation quickly and quietly. The job was easy, take out the target before information was passed to a third party. The blond was cursing himself for watching the target approaching the destination and not paying better attention to the person that had apparently followed Christophe into the alleyway. For a split second he thought the person who approached the mercenary was the pickup for the information, but brushed that thought aside as he listened to the exchange between Christophe and the unidentified male. Christophe had wisely decided to hold the transmitter button to allow his partner to hear the exchange.

“Oui, it’s been a while, non?”

 _Get rid of him, target is approaching._ The hiss came through his earpiece

“Yeah, it has ‘Tophe,” the smile came easily from the redhead, “Got time to catch-up?” While Kyle knew that the man he was set to meet was approaching, he was trying to stall Christophe as long as he could, he knew if his contact saw people in the alleyway paranoia would take over and he would make for an escape. Unfortunately, Christophe wasn’t having it. He grabbed the redhead’s arm and pulled him deeper into the alley. He shoved him lightly into a door’s stoop.

“Stay here, do not move, it is not safe, you hear me?” The low tone and sharp eyes told Kyle all he needed to know, his contact was dying no matter what he did, Kyle quickly switched gears in his head, allowing shock and fear to wash over his features, stuttering slightly as he spoke in a scared whisper.

“’T-Tophe, wh-what’s going on?” He allowed for wide eyes as he searched the other male’s face for the answers he already knew.

“Shhh petit rouquin, stay here, don’t make a sound.” Kyle nodded a little wildly as he flattened himself to the doorway to stay out of sight as instructed.

_Coming up on the alleyway_

The sniper was cursing his partner; he only heard the other male’s offer to catch-up before Christophe stopped the transmission. While he didn’t get a good look at who that male was, he was hiding behind a dark colored hoodie and his back was to the sniper, and couldn’t recognize what he heard of his voice, it was someone that Christophe knew, someone he decided he didn’t want to outright kill, and that make the blond nervous. There wasn’t much he didn’t know about his partner, but this person was someone that Christophe kept hidden. The blond was determined to find out more once this was over.

On the rooftop the other blond watched as Kyle was tucked away into a dark stoop to obscure him from passersby, the job was going sideways and the blond didn’t like it. He could easily make his way down to Kyle and the two could get out of there but that would blow their cover, he had picked up some of the conversation between his partner and the mercenary, he knew how Kyle was playing it, but he didn’t have to fucking like it. He watched from his crouched position on the roof, hiding behind an AC unit, he scanned the building across from the alleyway, he knew that Christophe’s partner was out there somewhere, he never got his hands dirty unless he had to. The pair had quite the reputation, one that he and Kyle were well aware of. After spotting Christophe, the blond took extra care not to be seen as he crawled along the rooftops, he didn’t want to give away himself to the sniper he knew was waiting, while he could come back from a bullet to the head, his redhead would not be that lucky. For now he had to remain a ghost and let Kyle take the lead on what was to happen.

He peered around the corner, quickly catching sight of the target just steps away, he waited the few seconds and then reached out with strong arms and fluid movements to grab the unsuspecting man, one hand already around the others mouth before he could even think to make a sound. The brunette spoke quickly into the ear of the man pinned to his chest, “Votre patron envoie ses salutations,” before quickly jerking the man’s head sideways and snapping the vertebrae in his neck. He dropped him to a heap on his back in the dingy alleyway and heard a small gasp from down behind him. Kyle had poked his head out from his hiding place at the thud of the man falling to the ground. His eyes were wide as saucers and fearful. Christophe walked over the corpse and back to the redhead.

“Shhh,” he tried to soothe but the redhead looked to be on the verge of tears, shaking and holding his arms across his chest.

“’T-Tophe, wh-what did you do?” the accusation was so quiet, like the redhead didn’t trust himself enough to speak.

“Shhh, it was what needed to be done, come, I will take you someplace safe,” the brunette was rubbing the redheads arms trying to calm him down.

 _Is it finished?_ The voice came through the earpiece again

Christophe tapped and held the transmitter again on his sleeve, “Oui, Je vous rencontrerai bientôt, attendez-vous à un ami.” He spoke quietly while keeping his eyes locked to the redhead in front of him.

Kyle cocked his head at him, he wasn’t stupid, but he had to feign ignorance for the time being, it would only work to help him get out of this strange situation.

“Wh-what was that?” Kyle spoke softly as he watched the brunette, he knew exactly what was said and how it was done, but again, ignorance is bliss, so long as the mercenary believed his acting. Because all of this was an act, at least on Kyle’s part, he couldn’t afford to be found out, as much as Christophe might be showing him weird signs of affection he couldn’t rule out the possibility of him snapping his neck just has easily as he had done the other man’s moments ago. He allowed the strong brunette to lead him from the doorway, he kept his eyes to the ground, scanning the area, scanning the corpse a head of them to see if he could make out where the man had the information that Kyle was sent to retrieve. He had to keep the job in the back of his mind; no doubt there would be no chance to come back later to retrieve the flash drive he was supposed to get. No, Christophe, or more likely his partner Gregory, would send in a cleanup crew as soon as the mercenary departed. Now was the only chance Kyle would get. He spotted the faint outline easily enough, the way the man had fallen caused his pants to tighten around his legs showing off the slim item in the man’s pants pocket closest to him and Christophe, the brunette was still trying to calm him down since he started back up the panicking after coming closer to the corpse. He needed more time to look and that seemed to be an easy way to halt the escape from the alley. Once the object was spotted Kyle only had limited time to work out how to retrieve it, he shook himself away from Christophe, feigned tripping and falling on top of the corpse, and using his body as a shield he fished out the flash drive and palmed it before Christophe reacted and helped him up from the dead man. He allowed tears to fall and his body to be wrapped up in Christophe’s arms. The brunette held him and whispered calming words him, he allowed himself to be led from the alleyway, Christophe holding him securely to his side as they walked down the street away from death.

The sidewalk was busy, as it was on any weekend night. With Christophe and Kyle walking away from the alleyway the blond took from following along on rooftops to making his way down and onto the street, following well behind the two. He knew he had to keep his distance, Christophe was nothing if not a pro, he would sense a tail on him if Kenny wasn’t careful. He had watched when Kyle picked the flash drive from the now deceased contact of theirs; he knew that since Christophe was leading him somewhere that Kyle wouldn’t want the flash drive on him when they got to their destination. So the stalking began. Kyle would have to drop the flash drive so Kenny could retrieve it or Kenny would have to be bold and do a bump and grab for it. Neither of those options was great. The sidewalk too filled with people, the flash drive could be too easily lost, but if the grab wasn’t perfect it could tip off Christophe and that would be disastrous. As it was the man had Kyle tucked so close next to him, his arm holding Kyle’s shoulder that was connected to the hand holding the flash drive, there would be no way that he wouldn’t notice a bump. Kenny had to think of something and it had to be quick. He noticed he was approaching an bar with outdoor seating, he quickly glanced over the tables closest to where he would be walking by and spotted a relatively unattended drink, he grabbed it, and took a swig before the patron noticed it was gone, he purposely spilt some on the front of his hoodie so he smelled more like alcohol. He had to make this quick, he pulled out his phone and dialed the number that Kyle had set up for these types of situations, it allowed the caller to have a line that would go through and not hang up or pick up a voicemail, the caller could say whatever was needed to the “person” on the other end for as long as needed. Drunken angry boyfriend just happened to be a Kenny specialty.

He slurred his words and spoke to the phone, cursing at it as he picked up his pace, with his feet moving faster he started to increase the volume of his words, bumping into people as he purposefully staggered on the sidewalk, alcohol sloshing from the glass that he had stolen. He threw the glass down to the pavement as he picked up his cursing on the phone, he was steps from Kyle and Christophe, he slammed into Kyle’s shoulder, his head down and hood up so as not to be seen, taking the flash drive from Kyle’s hand and stuffing it into the pocket of his jeans before yelling curses and slurs at the man for being in his way, and then redirecting back to his “phone conversation” and swearing at his lying cheating no good girlfriend. A residential apartment building was on the other side of the street, so Kenny glanced quickly up and down the road before jogging across the street, swearing to the phone that he was going to be there in a minute, he ducked into the building and through the lobby towards the stairway before taking the back exit door and climbing up the fire escape and on to the apartment’s rooftop. He had disconnected the call and put his phone in his pocket before reaching the end of the lobby. Once on the roof, he spotted Kyle and Christophe a ways down from where he bumped into them, thankful that all seemed to be going well on Kyle’s end.

Kyle had known what was going to happen as soon as he heard the slurred curses coming from behind him and Christophe. Kenny had done well to keep his normal southern hick accent out of the curses and the ruse he was playing at, had he not Christophe might have been instantly tipped off. The bump was damn near flawless in Kyle’s opinion, the strong smell of alcohol and Kyle’s reassurances that he was all right after the altercation was enough to keep Christophe’s mind off of the man and for them to keep moving forward. Now that the information was safely passed to Kenny, Kyle had one less thing to worry about. He knew that Kenny would be back to trailing them soon enough, and if need be would work to get the redhead out of whatever situation arose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Google Translate is my friend, apologies if there is a native speaker of French or Italian and I have butchered the translations.
> 
> *Merde – Shit  
> *Je ne sais pas encore, j'ai de la compagnie – I don't know yet, I have company  
> *petit rouquin – little redhead  
> *Votre patron envoie ses salutations - Your boss sends his regards  
> *Oui, Je vous rencontrerai bientôt, attendez-vous à un ami – Yes, I will meet you soon, expect a friend
> 
>  
> 
> (4/28 - Thank you Blackcat for the help on the translations :) )


	2. Diner Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any/all translations can be found at the end of the chapters

If pacing was acceptable the blond would be doing it. Christophe was late for the meet. He was already agitated enough that Christophe had mentioned bringing someone, a friend, as he had called him, but now he was late on top of it. The blond sat in the booth farthest from the main entrance, back to the wall so no one could approach from behind, and towards the edge of the seat at the booth in case he needed to make a quick getaway through the kitchen doors to his right. The diner was nothing special, but the layout was fantastic. After discovering it one night after a mission it quickly became the designated meeting place for the two mercenaries. Easily located within walking distance to most of their places or stash houses, the Metro was half a block away if either one needed to disappear quickly, and it was a transient enough place that no one paid them any attention, the waitresses all young and rotated enough that no one would think the two men were regulars at the establishment. He sipped his hot coffee slowly as he watched the door for his partner. As upset or agitated as he was no one would know. He kept a charming smile for the young waitress as she asked him if he would like a refill or food, he waved her off of course with a smile and kind words. The small bell above the entrance jingled and his eyes snapped back to the door to see Christophe and a smaller man walk in, the stranger was being held next to Christophe’s side, his head down and the hood of his sweater covering his head and obscuring his face. He didn’t like his; he tightened the grip on the small pistol he held under the table as the two approached.

Seeing the tension in his partner’s shoulder, the minute flexing of muscle, Christophe shook his head slightly at him, the muscle relaxed and Christophe knew that the movements after were his partner tucking his gun back where it belonged. He could still feel the little redhead trembling slightly next to him; he released his arm from around his shoulder and helped to guide him into the booth across from his partner. He choose to sit down next to him, as much as he hates having his back to a crowd, it was a sign of trust to the blond that he knew he would have his back.

The waitress took the additional people as a sign for her to return, asking for their orders.

Christophe gruffly gave his order to the waitress as if it were a huge inconvenience, while Kyle, feigning shock over the whole situation, decided not to answer the waitress’s question, waiting until Christophe spoke softly to him instead, “Ma petit rouquin, what would you like?”

“Just coffee, black.” Kyle spoke back to the brunette in a small voice.

Christophe parroted the redhead’s order to the waitress in French and she departed to retrieve the drinks.

Kyle didn’t need to look up to know who he was sitting across from; it was Gregory, Christophe’s partner, a fellow mercenary. The game Kyle was playing at was now even more dangerous, while Christophe was by no means an idiot; he lacked the socialization skills to know that Kyle had been faking the interactions between them since the redhead approached him at the alleyway. Gregory on the other hand, he was highly intelligent, and if Kyle didn’t play this exactly right, Gregory would see through him in an instant. Gregory might be the only one that could beat Kyle at his own game if he was to be honest with himself, and behind the façade he was putting on that scared him to his core. He knew he had to get out of here but right now that wasn’t an option.

Gregory spoke first, once the drinks were delivered and the waitress was out of sight, Kyle took the cup in his hands, head still down as he blew on the hot liquid in an attempt to cool it.

“Perché l'avete portato qui” the words were laced with warning as the blond spoke to the brunette, Kyle quickly picked up on the change in language, no doubt an attempt by the blond to make the conversation solely between himself and the brunette, but Kyle was adept with many foreign languages and picked up the Italian easily.

Christophe grunted, hating how his partner was forcing him to use a foreign tongue. “Non avevo scelta, vide.”

“Si potrebbe avere appena ucciso” was the quick reply.

“Non,” the one word laced with so much anger and venom that the blond seemed to back off for a few.

Kyle knew it would be a question of why he was here, and wasn’t really surprised when Gregory had recommended his death, but what was slightly shocking was how Christophe had rebuffed that suggestion.

The redhead took the lull in conversation to take his first sip of coffee and look up at the blond across from him. He saw the other staring him down, while Christophe stiffened beside him and put a hand on his thigh, a protection rather than a warning. Dark forest green eyes met steel gunmetal blue, the recognition flashed instantly through those eyes before it was covered up as Gregory hissed out a word.

“Kyle”

“Oui” the Frenchman replied.

“Questo non va bene, sai che questo non va bene, non si dovrebbe avere lo ha portato qui” the blond spoke rapidly. Kyle knew he was questioning the motives of his partner for bringing him to their meet.

“Cosa avrei dovuto fare? Non potevo lasciare e non avevo intenzione di ucciderlo.” The brunette spoke back coldly. Kyle carefully wondered why the brunette was so intent on keeping him safe. It had been forever since they had seen each other as it was, the affection and protection seemed genuine enough, but Kyle couldn’t seem to wrap his mind around the motives behind it. Apparently he was as confused about this as the blond, though he wouldn’t let the other see that.

“Cazzo Christophe, questo sta per essere più domande e problemi che abbiamo tempo per.” The blond bit back bitterly.

Kyle reminded silent and unassuming, slowing drinking his coffee and translating the exchange, the blond was upset at Christophe for not leaving or killing him, Christophe seemed upset by the mere suggestion of offing the redhead and now apparently Kyle’s presence was going to cause problems and questions. Great, this was not going to be an easy getaway. Kyle would have to keep up the ruse for longer than he thought until he was able to get away, or was let go by the pair. Though by Gregory’s words, being let go didn’t seem like an option.

“Non,” the brunette growled back to the blond. “Lo porterò a casa, lui non parla una parola di questo e sarà al sicuro.” The brunette glared at the blond, waiting for a reply.

When the reply didn’t come as expected the brunette followed up with, “Siamo forse chiari su questo?” His voice was low and threatening, there was no room for arguing with the Frenchman.

“Cristallo,” was the forced reply from the fuming blond. As much as he was trying to hide his rage it was boiling over and Kyle had caught the sharp cut of the word. Apparently he would be home free after all, but now was not the time to celebrate. The brunette next to him rubbed his thigh reassuringly after the conversation was over, satisfied that no harm would come to the redhead next to him.

Now that the negotiations were over and the partners had seem to come to somewhat reluctant terms with the fact that Christophe was determined to keep Kyle safe, the blond quelled his anger to turn charm on to the redhead across from him. Kyle had kept his head down to avoid more notice than was necessary as the two exchanged heated words after his first peek up at Gregory.

“So dear Kyle, what brings you to Paris?” Gregory forced the control of his voice and facial features; outwardly he smiled at the redhead intruder and kept his tone sweet and friendly.

Kyle brought his eyes up to meet the blond’s gunmetal blues, slipping the hood down from his head and ran a hand through his red curls to try and fix them into something less disheveled. He spoke carefully, keeping the quiet and nervous tone from earlier, projecting trepidation and slight fear to the blond. He opted to lie as minimally as possible to keep from being caught in something he couldn’t easily talk his way out of. He had to be careful, one slip and he wasn’t sure Christophe’s protection would safe him from the blond’s sniper rifle.

“Kenny and I are doing a semester abroad, I’ve been doing French and Critical Studies while Kenny has been working on Art and Architecture, we’re both at the CIEE Global Institute Paris.” There was no lie there; it was the easiest way for them both to be in Paris without anyone being the wiser on their true mission here.

“Ah, so Kenneth is here with you too I see,” the blond spoke cordially enough, though Kyle knew there was more to it than that. “So how did you manage to run into dear Christophe?”

Kyle knew the question was coming; the lie was easy enough, laced with just enough truth, time to see if the blond will bite.

“I was coming back from my shift at the library when I thought I saw Christophe walking on the sidewalk in front of me, so I called out to him and sure enough I was right. Haven’t seen him in ages, was having a quick chat and wanted to see if he wanted to catch up, when, well, other things happened.” Kyle ducked his head to stare at his coffee while he let his words work on his audience. He held himself with mixed amounts of sorrow, regret and fear, all a carefully crafted façade and hoped that it wasn’t immediately shattered. The hand rubbing along the top of his thigh meant that the mercenary next to him believed the lie, but that wasn’t the person who this show was for.

The blond regarded him carefully, measuring his words before he spoke again, “I see. Well an unfortunate bit of luck that was; sorry you had to experience that dear Kyle. I trust this will all be confidential, yes?” The words lost their jovial tone; the warning was clear at the last statement.

The Frenchman growled at the blond, but Kyle spoke the answer that was needed, “Y-Yes, of course.” Feigning the fear and stutter of his voice, making only brief eye contact with the blond to reinforce that yes he heard and understood the implied threat and that no he wouldn’t breathe a word to anyone. This finally seemed to satisfy Gregory.

“Well then, shall we be off?” the lightness was back in the blond’s tone but Kyle new it was fake.

Christophe finally spoke, gruff and warning to his blond partner, “I will take him home and see you later.”

The brunette stood, and the redhead slid out of the booth to stand next to him, money was thrown on the table by Christophe and then a strong arm wrapped around a thin waist as Christophe led him out of the diner.

Gregory let the two leave, staying to finish his coffee instead, cursing his stubborn partner in his head. He was going to let him have it when the other returned to the apartment that night, that was sure. This was beyond reckless for the mercenary, to bring home a stray like that, and while they both had interactions with the redhead in the past, they were children; he couldn’t fathom why Christophe was so invested in him now. It just didn’t make any sense. Kyle was a puzzle, one the blond was intent on figuring out. Kenneth, he mused, was the easiest of the two targets, when he got to him he could work on uncovering why the two were really in town, because there was something about Kyle that just wasn’t adding up. He knew well enough that it wasn’t coming out tonight between them, no, this would take time, and Gregory had a lot of time and patience to figure out what was going on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Google Translate is my friend, apologies if there is a native speaker of French or Italian and I have butchered the translations.
> 
> *Ma petit rouquin – My little redhead  
> *Perché l'avete portato qui – Why have you brought him here  
> *Non avevo scelta, vide – I had no choice, he saw  
> *Si potrebbe avere appena ucciso – You could have just killed him  
> *Questo non va bene, sai che questo non va bene, non si dovrebbe avere lo ha portato qui – This is not good, you know this is not good, you should not have brought him here  
> *cosa avrei dovuto fare? Non potevo lasciare e non avevo intenzione di ucciderlo – what was I supposed to do? I couldn't leave him and I wasn't going to kill him.  
> *Cazzo Christophe, questo sta per essere più domande e problemi che abbiamo tempo per – Fuck Christophe, this is going to be more questions and problems than we have time for.  
> *Lo porterò a casa, lui non parla una parola di questo e sarà al sicuro. – I'll take him home, he won't speak a word of this and he will be safe.  
> *Siamo forse chiari su questo? – Are we clear on this?  
> *Cristallo – Crystal


	3. Forced Domesticity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any/all translations can be found at the end of the chapters

Kenny had watched the exchanges in the diner from the rooftop across the street. Since no one was killing each other it seemed like Kyle would make it out okay. This was reaffirmed when Christophe led Kyle from the diner and back towards the direction of his and Kyle’s apartment. He watched the lone blond, Gregory, for a few minutes more, making sure that he made no move to follow Kyle and Christophe from a distance. Kenny could tell that the blond was thinking hard, even from his limited vantage point, and that worried him more than the rest of the night had. Gregory was going to be trouble, how much was still to be seen. He moved from his position and back into the dark and shadows, down the nearest fire escape and ran along the alleyways to their apartment, determined to beat Kyle and Christophe there. He slowed on his approach, checking the street and sidewalks before crossing over and ducking back into the alley, there was no sign of the two of them when he crossed, and by the pace they were walking before he had at least 5-10 minutes or more before someone would be coming in. He scrambled up the fire escape that conveniently led up past his window, and climbed in carefully. He stripped out of his clothes taking the flash drive, his small handgun and his switchblade out of his pants and tucking them all in his nightstand drawer and ran naked to the small washer dryer combo in the apartment and started a load, he still smelled the alcohol on him from earlier and had to get it off in case Christophe came inside and put two and two together. He started the shower and jumped immediately in before the water even had time to properly warm up, taking the bar of soap and scrubbing himself clean as quickly as possible, he washed his hair and lathered it up with shampoo before rinsing all the suds down the drain. Once the water ran clear he shut off the taps, grabbing the towel from the hanger and rubbing it over his head to dry his hair some before wrapping the towel around his waist. He took up his toothbrush from the holder on the sink and the toothpaste from the small mirrored cabinet and brushed his teeth as fast as he could. He hadn’t heard anyone yet, which was good, he finished with his teeth and cleaned up the sink, walking to his room and drying off the last of the water droplets that remained on his skin before taking out boxers and a tee shirt from his dresser and throwing them on. He made his way to the couch, turning on the TV and grabbing the controller before starting up Call of Duty, he angled his body to lounge on the couch to play while still keeping his eyes on the door for Kyle. He was only about 2 minutes into playing when the sounds of the key in the lock brought blue eyes briefly to the door, he made himself focus back on the game and to keep his posture, face, everything controlled into cool nonchalance. The door swung open and Kenny called out casually.

“Hey Ky”

“Hey Kenny,” came the easy reply, “got a friend with me”

“Oh so that’s why you’re late from work, find a hot date?” the blond joked easily, pausing the game to look at the redhead and ‘friend’.

The blond waited for the brunette to come fully through the door before saying anything. Once they saw each other the blond bounded to the brunette, happy with smiles, clasping him briefly on the forearm, and throwing the other arm around Kyle’s shoulders.

“Christophe! My man! It’s been forever.” The brunette was slightly taken aback by the blond’s energy.

“Oui, it has been a long time,” he spoke after eyeing the blond and the redhead together. Kyle ducked from under the blond’s arm and made a motion to the kitchen.

“You guys want anything?”

“Nah, I’m good Ky, Chris?” he nodded toward the brunette while shutting the door behind him.

“Non”

Kenny walked back over to the couch and flopped down, retrieving the controller from the coffee table.

“Chris, sit down, make yourself at home, whatcha been up to?” the blond grinned while resuming his game.

Kyle returned from the kitchen, watching carefully as Christophe took the spot at the other end of the couch from Kenny, with the sparse furniture of the apartment that left the middle couch seat, or the floor, as the only open spot for Kyle.

“Working here and there, you?” was the rather stiff reply from the brunette.

“Studying mostly, working at a small garage to pay some bills, but otherwise enjoying Paris, ya know?” the blond quipped easily, while continuing to focus on the game he was playing.

“Oui”

Kyle moved in front of the Frenchman and sat down in between the two. Kenny moved his limbs to allow the redhead to sit down only to stretch out his legs over Kyle’s lap. Kyle grunted and swatted at his side, earning him a laugh and “Hey” from the blond. He could feel Christophe’s hazel eyes watching him, studying him, but he knew he couldn’t falter now, it had to be ‘real’ to be believable, otherwise the jig is up and him and Kenny would be killed, well more so him than Kenny, that stupid bastard would be back the next day.

A hand came to his thigh again, drawing his eyes away from the TV screen and to the brunette next to him. Kenny thankfully remained oblivious, or he was better at this than he ever gave him credit for, he’d ask him later.

“Je dois vous parler seul.” The brunette spoke softly to the redhead. Kyle knew what he wanted, but he also remembered pretending not to understand the last time Christophe spoke a full phrase in French in front of him. It was a test, the brunette knew exactly what he was doing in this situation, and with Kyle already mentioning the cover story of studying abroad, Christophe had walked him right into the trap that he set for the redhead. There was no way that Kyle could be studying French and Critical Studies and not have learned the language, Christophe picked up on that too it seems. _Shit_

Kyle nodded and stood, motioning back to the kitchen, Christophe following right behind, as Kyle opened the door and stepped out onto the small balcony with the brunette. He waited in silence for the other to speak.

“So you do understand French.” It was a statement, but Kyle answered anyways.

“Yes.”

“You pretended like you did not.” Another statement, Kyle contemplated how to answer that, carefully choosing his words and the emotions to play in this scenario.

“I was a little in shock at the time, nothing was quite registering well.” Scared, fear, those would work well against the Frenchman before him. He started shaking again as he continued on, careful not to play it up too dramatically.

“I mean, ‘Tophe, I just saw you kill someone,” he dropped his voice to a bare whisper as if the words and their accompanying thoughts were too much to handle. It had its desired effect, the brunette wrapping his arms around the redhead and pulling him to his chest. He was murmuring soft reassurances into red curls while rubbing a hand along the small of Kyle’s back. The redhead relaxed into the touches, breathing in the smoky earthy scent of Christophe and sighing softly. At any other time Kyle might have actually enjoyed this, the thought was oddly sobering. As much as he shouldn’t, he might be developing underlying feelings for the rough mercenary, and that was not a good thing in either of their professions, or in Kyle’s personal life. Kyle had to school himself and lock away the feelings in his heart, it was not the time for this shit he had to remind himself.

Once Christophe was sure that the redhead was calmed down, he pulled away from the embrace, holding Kyle by his shoulders and gazing into his deep forest green eyes.

The mercenary spoke with conviction with an underlying gentleness, “You cannot say anything, I know you know this, but not even to _Kenny_ ,” he spoke his name like it was a curse, but the gentleness returned, “you will have nothing to fear, I would not let harm come to you, you understand ma petit rouquin?”

Kyle nodded and quietly said “Yes”

“Good, I will leave you now. We will see each other again.” A promise, not a threat, though Kyle didn’t know which one he wanted it to be.

Christophe opened the balcony door and waiting for Kyle to come in before shutting it. The brunette made his way to the door with Kyle following behind. Kenny watched the movement of the two, when Christophe’s hand was on the handle he finally spoke.

“Chris, you leaving already dude?”

The brunette regarded him on the couch; “Oui” was all he said before opening the door and exiting.

Kyle walked the last few steps to the door, and clicked the lock in place; it was only then that he heard the retreating footsteps down the hallway, the indication that Christophe was finally leaving the building.

He returned to the couch with Kenny, watching him as he continued to play, knowing that now wasn’t the time to get sloppy, things had to appear normal until they were both sure the danger had passed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Google Translate is my friend, apologies if there is a native speaker of French or Italian and I have butchered the translations.
> 
> *Je dois vous parler seul. – I need to speak with you alone.  
> *Ma petit rouquin – My little redhead


	4. Debriefs and Confusion

It was about an hour later that Kenny made his way out from his bedroom window to scope out the area around the apartment, after about 30 minutes of being satisfied that nothing was out there he returned to Kyle and Kyle’s laptop.

While Kenny may take an old-school approach to surveillance, Kyle was high-tech all the way. He was already into the traffic cams and CCTV surrounding the area, and watching the footage from the last hour to track Christophe from their apartment building to where he lost sight of him in a Metro station. He continued to watch the split screens on his monitor to make sure that after the Metro Christophe didn’t reemerge somewhere back by the apartment building, but from all accounts he didn’t. Once they were both confident that no one was around, it was time to talk about what the hell had happened tonight.

“Kenny,” Kyle started as the blond joined him on the couch, “This isn’t good.”

“I know”

“We don’t kill people, and whoever wanted this information,” he said turning over the flash drive in his hand, “is willing to.”

“Well unless their trying to kill us first that is, but I know what you’re saying.”

“This is big, bigger than our employer led us to believe,” Kyle said carefully, slipping the flash drive into the USB slot on the computer, watching the drive load up before clicking on the single file, “shit, encrypted,” he spoke under his breath, he opened up a decryption program and started running it on the flash drive, setting his laptop down on the coffee table and turning to fully look at the blond next to him.

“This’ll take time,” he told Kenny, receiving a nod in reply.

“So what happened exactly, I saw some from the rooftop but not everything.”

“Well you know when I spotted Christophe, I approached him at the alleyway, realizing it was the spot we were to meet our contact, I tried to stall him so the contact could make it out of there but Christophe wasn’t having it, hid me away in a dark stoop so he could kill the man. I faked being scared and in shock, Christophe was trying to console me, I tripped and got the flash drive and he led me away to meet up with his partner. Gregory, remember him right?” Kenny nodded and Kyle continued, “Good job on the bump and grab by the way, Christophe didn’t seem to notice what really happened, though you knocking into me sent his, um, protective instincts, I guess, into overdrive, I thought for a minute he was going to chase after you but I managed to stop him.”

“Yeah, I was worried as hell about that move, but considering the amount of people around I didn’t figure you would be too keen on dropping the drive and risk it getting lost in the shuffle so I had to take a chance.”

“It was a good call,” this earned the redhead a genuine smile from the blond.

“After that he led me to the diner, where Gregory was waiting. Since Gregory didn’t yet know who I was the pompous ass decided to speak to Christophe in Italian, asking why he didn’t kill me when he had the chance, Christophe didn’t seem to like that very much, the whole killing me thing, and they argued for a little bit over it.”

“Ah, if they only knew my Ky’s gift with languages.” The blond snorted

“True, even after I poked my head up and Gregory realized who I was he seemed to think that I wouldn’t know Italian and continued on talking to Christophe under the guise of my not understanding them. Christophe wound up threatening Gregory, that I would be safe, protected, and he finally seemed to relent after that. He turned his questions to me instead. Asking why I was in Paris and how I managed to run into Christophe, I kept to the story, studying abroad, the two of us, me coming back from a shift at the library. All things that could be easily checked as needed, and I’m sure he has done just that by now. I’m not sure he entirely bought it all, the fucker is smart after all, but he did let us leave. I don’t imagine that will be the last we see of them though, something in my gut tells me that we aren’t truly off the hook.”

“I know exactly what you mean, I stayed around watching the diner after you left and while I couldn’t see much, I did see Gregory doing an awful lot of thinking after you two left, and I doubt it had much to do with how Christophe was treating you.”

“What do you mean, how he was treating me?”

“Ky, don’t play dumb with me, I know you know that Chris has some weird soft spot for you. I saw the way he was looking at you here, if I had to hazard a guess, I would almost say he likes you.”

“Hmm and here I thought you really were just oblivious,” Kyle mused

“Never Ky, not when it comes to you.” The heat in the blond’s voice was not lost on the redhead

“Well, then you are much better at acting than I ever gave you credit for.”

Kenny only nodded

After a few silent moments, the blond spoke up, “what did he want on the balcony?”

“He called me out for knowing French, when I pretended before like I hadn’t, I explained it away easily enough, the shock of the situation and all that, he told me that I didn’t need to worry as long as I didn’t tell anyone about what happened,” Kyle purposely left out the warning about telling Kenny, he knew it wouldn’t sit well with the blond, “that I would be protected and safe, and that he would see me again. I don’t think he meant it as a threat, more like a promise, I’m still not sure which would be better.”

“I knew he liked you,” the blond replied quietly.

“Ken, I’m not sure that’s what we should be focusing on right now.”

“Yeah, yeah, but I don’t have to like it now do I?” agitation was clear in his voice as he spoke.

They had been down this road before. Kyle knew Kenny’s feelings all too well and once upon a time he returned them freely. But life is no fairy tale and the work got in the way of their relationship, Kyle had made the decision to end things romantically, and as much as Kenny hated it, he didn’t want to lose his partner and best friend, so here they were. Unattached. Focused on missions and outcomes, while taking care of each other should things go sideways. That didn’t stop Kenny from wanting more, wanting what they had before, and Kyle tried his best to not encourage the behavior but slip ups happened. They would tumble into one another’s bed on maybe one too many occasions and hearts and feelings got confused. Kenny always tried to put on a brave face afterward, resigned to the fate that the redhead pushed on him, but Kyle was no fool, he knew how hurt he was because he was hurting as well, he just knew how to hide it better, bury it deep down to try and not affect the other. It would be so much easier if they could cut ties and run away and just be together, but they were both too invested in the work they were doing to try and live a fantasy. They were committed to their jobs in a way they couldn’t seem to commit to one another, or maybe it was just Kyle who couldn’t commit. Part of him deep down knew that Kenny would do whatever it took to keep the work and home balance but Kyle just couldn’t shut himself off from the job and that affected the relationship, that’s why Kyle had ended things before. He couldn’t focus on the tasks at hand so he had to make the hard choice. Sometimes Kyle was sick of making the hard choices. And the corruption never seemed to end, so many good people getting hurt over simple things like greed that there was an almost endless supply of information to gather and criminals to help in putting away, lives to be returned to the innocent. That’s what they were fighting for, a small town vigilante’s dream, what they didn’t know when they started was how much harsh reality would be involved with it all.

So that’s why Kyle knew his next actions were wrong, but he didn’t stop himself, it would never be a mistake per say, because he would always love Kenny, but it certainly wasn’t fair to his feelings.

Kenny was regarding him quietly, knowing the wheels were turning, seeing the slight flicker of emotions in forest green eyes; he stared back at him, questioning what was to come next.

“Ky?” he spoke timidly to the approaching redhead

“Shh” was all the reply he got before Kyle’s lips met his own

Kenny froze, his mind blanked, his lips moving of their own accord after a beat, a hand coming up the back of his neck to grasp at his blond hair as he was pulled deeper into the kiss. His body reacted on instinct, opening his mouth to Kyle’s, tongues meeting and dancing together to an old rhythm, searching, exploring, wandering, his hand to Kyle’s curls, tugging slightly and eliciting a small moan from the redhead, the other hand grabbing at his hip and pulling him firmly against the blond. He moved his mouth from the redheads and down his neck, kissing, biting, sucking, he could feel the rapid heartbeat as he found his pulse point, he bit down hard, sucking at the flesh, Kyle gasped and moaned loudly at the action, grinding down on top of Kenny’s lap. The blond took in a sharp breath, feeling Kyle pressing against him was almost too much while not being nearly enough. He pulled back slightly to look up to the redhead, his blue eyes were met with deep dark green, hazy from arousal, he had to know, had to have consent before this continued, Kyle knew what he was looking for and nodded, Kenny moved the redhead from his lap and stood, reaching out his hand for the other to come with him. Kyle took it of course and walked with him to Kenny’s room, the blond shut the door behind them and grabbed the redhead by his hips, pulling him back against his chest, and he ducked his head down slightly to the shorter male to capture his lips in a searing kiss. Lips and tongues moved together, full of passion and possession, of love and longing. Kenny slowly moved them towards the bed during it all, hands tugging at clothing, breaking apart from the kiss long enough so that the blond could remove the hoodie and t-shirt from the redhead before striping off his own shirt, Kyle took the opportunity to kiss the blond’s neck, biting down as thin fingers found their way to his belt, quickly unlatching it before tackling the button and zipper of the pants. Soon enough he was freed from the troublesome clothing, and being pushed back on to the bed, the blond laying a trail of hot wet kisses down his chest, biting and sucking at his hip to lay claim to the skin there as he had on his neck before. The hand that found his cock caused the redhead to shudder and moan, rubbing and grabbing him slowly, teasingly so, through the thin boxer material. He watched the blond work, as he had propped himself up slightly on his elbows, Kenny on his knees between his legs was a sight to behold, the boxers were slipped off easily once the blond was done making another mark on his hip, now the focus of the blond’s attention was the cock before him, his eyes flashed up to the forest green ones he knew would be watching him, he held the gaze as he licked a long line up the redhead’s dick, he didn’t even reach the tip before the other’s eyes rolled back and he moaned, “Fuck Ken,” he repeated the motion again, and the redhead fell back against the bed. Kenny took his time, swirling his tongue skillfully around the tip, sucking softly, pumping with his hand just hard enough, carefully balancing out his teasing in between taking him fully into his mouth, and sucking him off long and slow. The redhead grew frustrated at the blond’s pacing, he tried to grab his blond hair and force him into one position for longer, tried to thrust up with his hips, but it was to no avail, Kenny was well and thoroughly in control, no matter what antics Kyle tried to pull. Kyle wanted release but Kenny wasn’t having it. Precum trickled down Kenny’s throat and he hummed as he lapped it up, curses and moans falling from the redhead’s lips all the while. He finished with a slow swirl of his tongue across the sensitive tip, and once he was fully removed there was a low needy whine from the redhead. Kenny rummaged through his nightstand drawer quickly, pulling out a small bottle, and then removing his boxers. Kyle was still panting, halfway on the bed before him, he snaked his arm under the redhead’s back and pulled him to his chest, and Kyle was still a little dazed from the previous activity so Kenny helped reposition him so he was lying correctly on the bed. Once he was eased down the blond resumed his position in between Kyle’s legs, moving and bending them out of the way, he popped open the small bottle and slicked up his fingers before working the redhead over. He traced the hole softly with an index finger, the redhead trembled underneath him, he carefully inserted his finger, moving around slowly and testing for resistance as he watched for pain on the others face, when none was found the second finger slipped in. He worked on stretching the redhead for what was to come, the third finger entering after a few minutes, fucking the redhead’s tight ass, a twist of the blond’s wrist and he found the spot he was looking for. Sweet breathy moans, gasps and curses were his reward, he kept a fluid motion to ensure he hit that spot every time with his fingers, the redhead growing increasingly wild and loud underneath him, he had to lower his upper body down to keep him somewhat still, hands and bitten down fingernails found his back and shoulders as he bit and sucked another mark to the redhead’s collarbone. The blond’s back was burning from the way Kyle was digging and scratching into his skin, though the redhead was coming undone under him, “fuck… Ken….GOD… dammit, fuck… please” he finally begged through the panting and the moans. The blond didn’t waste time in indulging that request, he pushed up with his free hand, back to kneeling in between the redhead’s legs, and removed his fingers to slick up his cock, adding a little extra lube from the bottle near him before positioning himself at Kyle’s entrance. Whimpers and whines escaped the redhead at the loss of the fingers and touches, he brought his gaze down to the blond, watching with anticipation and excitement tainted over with lust as the blond’s cock disappeared inside of him. Inch by amazing inch the redhead was filled; a deep and low moan tore itself from his throat and didn’t seem to end until the blond was fully inside him. Kenny waited for the muscles around his cock to relax slightly before beginning any movements, he reached down to take Kyle’s hand, and the gentle squeeze that was given was enough to let him push forward. He withdrew almost fully before slamming back into the redhead. “Oh God…. Fuck… Yes!… please,” the redhead cursed at him, and the pace was set. Kenny aimed to please, withdrawing almost completely before slamming back harder and harder into the small redhead, hitting the sweet spot inside of Kyle, beating it with his cock, holding his hips in place, almost bruisingly so, one of Kyle’s arms was back against the headboard his hand splayed against it to push back and try to keep some distance between his head and the wood under the punishing thrusts of Kenny, the other gripping and clawing at the sheets since flesh was too out of reach for him in their positioning. The blond had laser-like focus in these moments, iron fisted control, he would continue until Kyle couldn’t take it anymore, then he would allow himself to be as lost as the redhead. Their end was nearing, thrust after thrust was bringing the redhead closer and closer to the edge, his cock was aching, precum dripping on his stomach, he looked up at the blond begging him for release with his eyes, “please” he moaned out in between thrusts. The word caused the blond to falter slightly, he removed a hand from the redhead’s hip and took up his cock instead, he resumed his hard thrusts as he slid his thumb over the overly sensitive tip and Kyle shook. He pumped his hand in time with his thrusts and it wasn’t long before Kyle was pushed over the edge and into orgasm screaming Kenny’s name. That was his undoing, it always had been, muscles tightened around his cock as the white hot pleasure of his own orgasm overtook him, he groaned and moaned Kyle’s name in turn, thrusting until he was well and truly spent before withdrawing and collapsing on the bed next to his redhead.

They lay there for a long time in the aftermath, the hands between the two found each other, as they always did, lacing fingers together as they both came down from the clouds, panting and softly swearing.

Once their breathing returned to normal it was Kenny who moved first. He detached his hand from Kyle’s and climbed off of the bed heading towards the bathroom, he shut the door and turned on the taps for the sink, he let the water warm up this time before wetting a washcloth and cleaning himself up. He took another one, and wet it down before turning the taps off, he took it with him back to the filthy redhead on his bed. He kept his head down, his eyes guarded as he approached Kyle; he wiped up the mess on his chest, before the cloth was tugged gently from his grasp.

“I-I’mma take a shower,” the redhead spoke softly to him.

Kenny nodded in return, holding out a hand to help the redhead sit up, the wincing didn’t go unnoticed but neither of them spoke about it, the blond helped the other to stand and make sure he was steady on his feet before releasing him to the bathroom. The door shut with a soft click and the shower taps being turned on could be heard in the silence in Kenny’s room.

The blond sighed; he located his discarded boxers on the floor and pulled them on before stripping the sheets off his bed and taking them down to the small laundry room. He threw them in the corner while he moved the clothing from earlier into the dryer and started the cycle. Once that was done he put the sheets in the washer with the detergent, starting the machine before he walked to the hall closet to retrieve fresh bedding. He remade his bed quickly and then cleaned up the clothing from the floor, throwing his shirt into a pile of dirty clothes in the corner but taking care to fold Kyle’s items up neatly before placing the pile on his desk. He returned the bottle of lube to the nightstand drawer and took out his cigarettes and lighter instead. The shower was still running as he walked out to the small balcony and shut the door.

The air was cool, and any sane person wouldn’t be outside in only their boxers, but Kenny was far from sane, especially right now, and what’s a little chill when you grew up in the Colorado winter, hell it might as well be summer weather right now.

He took a cigarette from his pack and held it between his lips as he brought the lighter up, flicking the wheel deftly the flame ignited and the cigarette was soon lit. He took a long drag, inhaling it deeply into his lungs, holding it there until the lack of oxygen forced his exhale. Emotions overtook him as he stood out there smoking quietly, but he refused to let the tears well up in his eyes. He was wrecked. Thoroughly and completely by the small redhead. No matter how much he wanted the situation to change, he knew that it wouldn’t. He knew that after tonight things would go back to how they have been, work, the mission, the job, nothing more or less. This, what was just experienced, was the fantasy. It wasn’t meant to be reality; Kyle had made sure of that when he ended things before. He knew that the love was there, that fact was what was killing him right now, scratching and clawing at his heart, he couldn’t understand why if Kyle loved him couldn’t they just be together, he knew he bullshit excuses of course, but that wasn’t it, it couldn’t be, but if he really loved him then how could that fucking redhead do this to him every time. Break him all over again. He thought about all this and more as he finished one cigarette and went on to the next.

His back was to the door and he was too lost in his thoughts to care, Kyle opened the door softly and took in the sight of Kenny under the glow of the streetlights, he was hunched over on the railing, his back to him, the blood from the earlier scratches had since dried. Smoke trailed out from in front of him, catching Kyle by surprise.

“I thought you quit?” he spoke carefully, quietly to the man before him.

If Kenny was surprised to hear Kyle behind him he didn’t let the other know, standing up slowly and stretching like a cat, arms above his head as he rocked slightly and popped vertebrae in his back. He turned around after taking a final drag from his cigarette before tossing it to the ground below. The blond looked over at the redhead and exhaled the smoke before speaking simply, “I did,” he shrugged.

Kyle searched his eyes but the blond was doing a good job at hiding his emotions, the redhead didn’t want to think of the alternative, that the blond might be uncaring or unfeeling, as his blank expression was projecting.

“Let me clean up your back, and we can go to bed?” Kyle said as he motioned for Kenny to come back inside.

The blond walked in past Kyle and off toward his bedroom. The redhead took a moment to steel himself as he locked up the apartment, he stopped back at the bathroom to take a clean washcloth and wet it down before heading back to Kenny’s room. The blond was sitting on the bed his back to Kyle as he walked in. He felt the bed dip as Kyle sat down behind him, and the washcloth coming down gently on the scratches on his skin. He clenched his fists tight to keep from verbalizing the pain. The redhead moved carefully, cleaning up the blood from the ragged marks he left on honey golden skin. The tightness of Kenny’s arms the only indication of how much physical pain he was feeling at the moment, because the blond refused to make a sound. Once he got it as clean as he could and removed the cloth he heard the sharp shaky exhale, as if Kenny was holding his breath through the whole ordeal.

“I should probably bandage a few of those,” Kyle spoke as he went towards the bathroom for the first aid kit.

“Don’t bother, I’ll just put a shirt on,” came the emotionless reply. He looked behind him from the bathroom to see that Kenny was already off the bed and putting on said shirt.

He watched as the blond lay back on his bed, Kyle debated internally if he should just go to his own bed tonight, Kenny clearly wasn’t in a good frame of mind if the small conversation on the balcony or the blank look in his eyes before was any indication. But Kyle had to own up to the fact that he did this, he started them on this path earlier and he should bear the consequences, there would be no easy retreat to his room. The only way he was leaving Kenny tonight would be if the blond told him to.

He walked into the bedroom, approaching the cold blue eyes before him, staring him down blankly.

“Can I stay here tonight?” the voice was small but unwavering under the intense gaze

“Sure,” was the half-grunted response, Kyle turned off the small bedside lamp before climbing in under the covers, he felt the blond moving to turn on his side, back to the redhead. Kyle reached out a hand to stop the motion, letting it rest lightly on his arm, the body was stiff under his touch, and it took a few long breaths before Kenny returned to lying on his back, arms crossed under his pillow, staring at the ceiling. Kyle settled in carefully next to him, curling slightly on his side and reaching out a tentative hand to rest on the blond’s chest, when his advance wasn’t immediately met with resistance he cuddled in closer and moved to rest his head on his chest as well before an arm came down around his back. Kyle froze briefly before being moved into a more comfortable and familiar position, his head resting perfectly in the crook of Kenny’s arm and chest. He exhaled slowly as they both settled into each other. The tentative bond so fragile it could shatter at any given moment. He listened to the blond’s rapid heartbeat, the sharp shallow inhales and exhales and he worked to calm his nerves. Kyle tried to be as small and unobtrusive as possible. Gradually as time ticked away the blond eventually seemed to relax, and that was enough for the redhead to allow exhaustion to overtake him and fall into a deep sleep. Kenny wasn’t so fortunate. He listened to the Kyle’s even breathing since the moment he laid down beside him, trying to focus on that to calm himself. He knew when Kyle finally dropped off to sleep, breathing deeply without the forced control. It was only then that the tears fell silently from blue eyes down honeyed skin.


	5. Insinuations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any/all translations can be found at the end of the chapters

Gregory was pacing, well not literally, that would be a waste of time, no his mind was pacing, calculating, formulating, putting the pieces together and tearing them apart when they wouldn’t fit right. He knew another person was on this same job, but the legend surrounding ‘The Ghost’ didn’t fit Kyle, too many outliers to be plotted for the line to work correctly. But there was no mistaking the fact that when the clean-up crew came minutes after Christophe had left the body that the evidence they needed was gone as well. Gregory had stayed up in his sniper perch long enough to know that there were only a select few in that alleyway, and unless Christophe had managed to get the flash drive and not tell him yet, that only left one suspect, Kyle. Christophe was not going to like those implications if the wretched display at the diner was anything to go off of. So he waited until the damned Frenchman returned before deciding how to break the news in a way that wouldn’t find himself on the receiving end of his dirty fist. Glancing at his watch, he imaged that he should have been back by now; something was keeping Christophe away, and while he could take care of himself this behavior was not like him. The redhead was making the mercenary reckless, and that was something Gregory didn’t bloody appreciate.

Christophe was watching Gregory through the window, he saw the other’s mind racing, and he had been out here for a good hour trying to work through his own thoughts before approaching his partner. He knew that it wasn’t something he did lightly, offering his protection to Kyle like he did, and while he knew full well why he did it, explaining it to the fuming blond would not be easy. There was a feeling in his gut though that he just couldn’t place, something to cause the unease he was feeling and make him take time out to try and think about what it could be. Whatever it was, it would have to wait, he had been out here long enough and he was damn tired.

The key clicked in the lock and the door opened, Christophe entered and locked the door back up behind him before looking at the blond at the kitchen counter. He knew he was heard, but right now Gregory wasn’t turning to face him so maybe he could just try and go to bed, maybe.

He heard the retreating footsteps going down the hall before he called out in warning, “Christophe. We need to talk.”

“Merde,” the Frenchman mumbled under his breath, before turning and entering the kitchen, taking up the seat across from the blond. He took out a cigarette and lit it up before the other spoke.

“We have a problem, and if you listen to me before going off, you will see that I am right,” the voice was laced with the threat of violence, Gregory would not be backing down from this and he wanted to make sure that Christophe would hear him out before jumping to the defensive.

“Quoi.” He spat at the blond Brit

“You see, the item the clean-up crew was supposed to find, it was not there. Now I watched that alleyway and there were only ever three people there before the clean-up crew arrived. You, the target, and the redhead, so unless you have a flash drive for me, I believe Kyle has some explaining to do.”

“Non, c'est impossible,” the Frenchman tried to counter, “he must not have had it with him.”

“See, I thought of that as well, I thought that maybe he ditched it before entering the alley, but I watched him on his approach, he did nothing but walk, rather nervously, to his destination. And our intel was too spot on for him not to have had it on him.” the blond replied carefully.

He studied the brunette in front of him, before speaking again.

“So, since I am assuming you do not have it that leaves one other possibility.”

“Non,” the brunette glared at him.

“It has to be done, you know as well as I do that our contract is not fulfilled until we retrieve what was stolen.” The words, true, were bitter all the same.

“I will handle it.”

“See I thought you might say that, and here is the part I know you are not going to like, I do not think you are capable of ‘handling it’, as you say.”

“Putain, Gregory,” the brunette hissed, “vous me questionnez vraiment à ce sujet?”

“I am afraid so, yes.”

“I will handle it,” Christophe growled out.

“As you wish,” the blond coolly replied

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Google Translate is my friend, apologies if there is a native speaker of French or Italian and I have butchered the translations.
> 
> *Merde – Shit  
> *Quoi – what  
> *Non, c'est impossible - No, it is impossible  
> *Putain – fuck  
> *vous me questionnez vraiment à ce sujet? - are you really questioning me on this?


	6. Revelations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any/all translations can be found at the end of the chapters

It was around 3:30 in the morning, Christophe was pacing along the block of Kyle’s apartment building, as much as he hated what his partner had insinuated, the uneasy pit in his stomach was only growing after their conversation ended. He knew Gregory had followed him, he wouldn’t expect anything less; he knew that he had found himself a suitable perch from which to align his sights on the apartment building, Gregory had done enough research on the two by now to know which unit was theirs and which buildings offered the best vantage points that were easily accessible and secluded enough for the blond sniper. Now he waited, the ball was in Christophe’s court.

It took another twenty minutes of pacing before the brunette made his way to the lobby entrance. It was a short walk to the staircase and up to the second floor apartment unit. He walked quietly but with purpose, pulling the lock pick kit from his cargo pants pocket, he pressed his ear to the door and hearing no movement within and nothing stirring around him he crouched down and began working the tumblers and pins with his tools.

Kenny was a relatively light sleeper on a normal night, but tonight was anything but normal. He was awake from the minute he laid down with Kyle beside him. He glanced over at the clock, 3:53AM, he untangled himself from the redhead and climbed out of the bed carefully, he was fully intent on heading to the bathroom to relieve himself when he heard the telltale signs of someone trying to pick the lock on the front door. He only had two good ideas on who it could be, and neither would be welcome. He stalked silently towards the door, staying to the shadows, he knew how much time he had as the person on the other side worked, Kenny had picked out that lock set in particular, it cost them a pretty penny but it was a bitch to pick open, requiring a considerably longer amount of time, skill, and patience than a normal lock set would. Last time he tried it had taken upwards of 5 solid minutes. Kyle, for as good as he was at most everything had taken at least 7, and judging from the noise it would take this person that much longer. He noticed that the curtain was open slightly, allowing the living room to be seen more than he would like to at this time, but closing them would certainly draw attention, Kenny assumed that it was Christophe on the lock and Gregory was nearby in a sniper nest set up on the apartment. It wouldn’t be wise to make himself known to either of them, so he followed the line of the wall and shadows, moving silently, and forever thankful that he took time to do a little repair work on the floors to avoid any squeaks of groans from the wood. He slipped the laptop off of the coffee table, closing it as he took it to his chest, hiding the small lights with his arms and hands, and worked his way back to his bedroom, he opened the laptop back up, a blanket over his head to hide the lights incase Gregory could catch sight of his room as well, and checked on the progress of the decryption program Kyle had started earlier. It wasn’t even a third of the way completed yet. He opened a word document and typed out “RUN” before setting the blanket covered laptop on the nightstand facing Kyle. He took out his small handgun from the drawer, and slipped it in Kyle’s hand, before kissing him on his forehead. The redhead started to stir but Kenny was already out the bedroom door, shutting it behind him. He was determined to make sure that he was the first person Christophe saw, giving much needed time for Kyle to hopefully heed his suggestion instead of doing something utterly stupid.

The lock was clicking open as Kenny made his way slowly down the hallway, feigning sleep and holding a baseball bat that he grabbed from his room loosely in his hand. He wasn’t about to confirm whatever suspicions brought the two mercenaries here, not unless he absolutely had to. He rubbed the ‘sleep’ out of his eyes as he approached the opening door, bat held high and swung back in one hand, blinking blearily at the man in the doorway before speaking roughly.

“Chris, dude, what the hell?”

The mercenary didn’t miss a beat, not that Kenny was expecting him to, and he easily grabbed the bat from him and tossed it to the couch, while pulling the blond around so his back was to the brunette’s chest and holding a knife to his throat. Kenny protested slightly, but the cool sharp metal was biting into his flesh and the Frenchman was hissing at him not to move.

“Chris… what are you doing?” Kenny tried again, allowing fear and trepidation to color his tone

“Tais-toi,” the brunette spat, “Where is Kyle?”

“Ky is sleeping.”

“Where?”

Kenny wasn’t about to lead the violent man through his apartment to Kyle, so he chose to speak louder instead.

“Ky, I think you have a visitor,” this earned him a press of the knife more firmly over his jugular; warm blood seeped from the clean cut as his skin easily broke.

He had hoped that Kyle would be smart for a change and take the escape opportunity as it was presented to him, but Kenny was wrong, a ‘sleepy’ Kyle was emerging from down the hall.

He stopped just inside the relative safety of the hallway and took in the scene with wide eyes, his left hand wound behind him, which might look like to some that he was scratching his back; but Kenny knew differently, he was holding his gun out of sight, for now at least.

“’Tophe, what’s going on?” Kyle tried shakily.

“You tell me,” the Frenchman spat back.

“I’m not sure other than I just woke up and you have a knife to Kenny,” the redhead pleaded forcing the innocence to his words

“You know why I am here” Christophe replied vehemently

“’Tophe, I don’t, let Kenny go and we can talk about this,” Kyle coaxed

Kyle went to move further into the living room but stopped when he caught the warning look in Kenny’s eyes, he saw as the blond’s electric blue eyes glided to the exposed window and back to meet forest green, Christophe wouldn’t see the look, not with the way he was holding Kenny to his chest but it was enough to give Kyle pause. There was someone else watching, the message was sent loud and clear to the redhead so he stayed in the relative cover that the hallway allowed. Kyle’s hand flexed instinctively on the gun’s grip, there were limited ways the scenario before him would play out. They had been caught, the mercenary knew that something was amiss otherwise he wouldn’t be here. Kyle had to figure out what Christophe knew, or suspected, and quickly. He wasn’t keen on spelling out the details to the brunette, but the look in his hard hazel eyes let the redhead know that Christophe wasn’t fucking around. There was an undertone of betrayal in the swirls of golden brown, whatever was going on in his mind was playing out slightly in his eyes and Kyle caught it all.

“I know you took it,” Christophe spoke gruffly, “Why Kyle”

The pieces were starting to fall together for the brunette as much as he didn’t want to look at the picture. Gregory was right, and he was cursing his partner under his breath as he realized it.

“’Tophe, please, I don’t know what you are talking about,” the redhead stated exhaustedly

Ignoring Kenny’s previous warning about a potential sniper, Kyle took a step towards the living room, out of the shadows of the hallway and into the moonlight and streetlights streaming in through the large window. His features were highlighted by the soft glow and the mistake was immediate if the growl from the brunette and yelp from the blond was anything to go by.

“You fucking slut!” The Frenchman growled out as he pulled the knife in deeper to Kenny’s neck, blood flowing more freely than before. He was livid, in his mind the redhead was _his_ , not another’s.

In the tense situation Kyle had forgotten about the obvious marks that Kenny had left along his neck. He berated himself internally for allowing the slip up, especially since it angered the mercenary so. The time for innocence had passed, if Christophe hadn’t figured out what Kyle and Kenny were by now it would be reveled soon enough, Kyle’s only concerns now were getting his partner released and keeping the information they had obtained. He brought his hand from his back and leveled the gun at the mercenary’s head from his position nearest the hallway. His arm was steady, sights good, aimed at the brunette’s forehead, the slight widening of hazel eyes and their subsequent hardening did not go unnoticed. He saw the flex in his arm as his grip on Kenny was tightened.

“Christophe, enough, let Kenny go,” the low violent warning seemed to echo in the too still apartment

“Non,” Christophe replied coldly, “you will give back what you took, then maybe I release this morceau de merde.”

“I can’t do that and I think you know why,” Kyle replied in turn, voice even, devoid of emotion

“Oui, I figured you out, you both out,” he said with a small huffing sound, “surprised Gregory has not.”

Kyle stood calmly, gun still trained on its intended target.

“You are both ‘Ghost’, non? I did not want to believe it, but it seems my thoughts are correct.” Christophe would never admit that Kyle had him fooled for as long as he did, but the pieces just fit too well, he was actually rather impressed, also something he would not admit to out loud, but the two worked together so seamlessly that no one, until now, had realized ‘The Ghost’ was more than one person. Everyone in their world operated on the assumption that it was a lone mercenary, bordering on vigilante, working in the shadows to take down the corrupt, but it just clicked with Christophe, seeing the two together, he could work out in his head how the two would sync and work as one.

“Yes” Kyle and Kenny spoke in unison

“While I do not doubt your aim, do you really think that you can shoot me before I slice his throat open?”

There was no malice in the words, just a fact, Kyle stilled at the thought, but not for the reason that Christophe had implied. As unfortunate as a death would be, Kenny would be back the next day, but Kyle didn’t think he could pull the trigger on someone he might have had pleasant, albeit confusing, feelings for just hours before. Also, while the brunette was far from innocent, he also wasn’t guilty of anything that would earn him a bullet in the head from Kyle’s hand. They didn’t kill people, that wasn’t their way, and Kyle wasn’t sure he could change that now.

Kenny was watching the small changes and flickers in Kyle’s eyes; he knew the wheels were turning as Kyle weighed the options for them. He wasn’t surprised when Kyle lowered the gun, bringing his arm down to rest at his side.

“What are the options here Christophe?” the redhead leveled with him

“Non, you have but one, return what you stole.”

“I can’t do that right now,” Kyle lied

“Fine, you have until 5pm, I take _Kenny_ as collateral until then. You know where to meet.” The sneer on the blond’s name was vicious

Pressing the knife warningly to honeyed skin Christophe hissed at the blond, “do not move,” he removed his hand from holding Kenny’s arm and slipped it into a pocket to retrieve a pair of flex cuffs. He handed them to the blond who didn’t need to be told to slip them over his wrists, but didn’t make a move to tighten them until the brunette tugged his hands up towards his mouth, the ends of the restraints facing him. “Pull them tight,” and another warning press to his neck and Kenny took one end into his mouth and pulled with teeth until the plastic bit into his skin and then repeated the action with the other end. 

“I would suggest you are not tardy, if you want your whore back, otherwise I send him to you in pieces.” The tone, much like it was at the diner, left no room for argument.

Kyle nodded.

Christophe pulled Kenny back with him, opening the door, eye’s never leaving Kyle’s and cool steel still pressed to blood covered golden skin. He pulled the blond out the door with him, shutting it fully before removing the knife and grabbing his arm roughly as he walked him down the steps and out of the building. The cool air whipped around the two of them, Kenny still in a state of undress with only his boxers and a thin t-shirt, was tugged to a dark unassuming sedan down the block. He was pushed into the passenger seat and strapped in, pinning his arms in front of him under the safety restraint, Christophe opened the glove compartment and fished out a black hood and covered Kenny’s head before shutting his door. He rounded the car and got in and drove off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Google Translate is my friend, apologies if there is a native speaker of French or Italian and I have butchered the translations.
> 
> *tais-toi – Shut up  
> *morceau de merde – piece of shit


End file.
